Greek Peak Opening Day 2016-2017

[Cornhead]

Date(s) Skied: 11/25/16
Resort or Ski Area: Greek Peak
Conditions: Melting man-made and natural
Trip Report:
Greek Peak received a healthy dose of LES snow on Sunday and Monday, not sure how much, but nearby Song opened Tuesday with 30+". Warm weather and rain had taken their toll since. They were able to groom Wednesday, but not since.

We arrived early, booted up and I picked up my season's pass. Got in line, and got first chair of the season along with a couple GP regulars. The snow wasn't terrible, pretty firm and fast with corduroy of Wednesday's grooming erased by the warmth and rain. There were a few easily avoidable bare spots on Stoic. Fog made visibility pretty poor for the first few runs, but improved as the day progressed.

Along with Fields/Stoic, and Karyatis, Greek opened Alcemene, and Iliad despite having no man-made snow blown on them. I decided to pass as I'd chosen to ski my good skis. A snowboarding friend of mine looked like he was having fun lapping the 6", or so, of heavy "fresh" snow remaining on skier's left of Alcemene.

We decided not to head back out after our usual 11 O'clock bar break. Got about 10 runs in by then. The Sun even poked through a bit as we were finishing up. I doubt Greek will remain open for the season, but it was nice to be on the hill pre December for the first time in quite awhile.

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[Rambo]

Skied Greek on Fri. 11/25/16 from 8:15 to 11am. Got in about 11 runs. Looks like 16 oz. Labatts pounders are still 4 bucks in Trax bar/restaurant... not bad. (hey - at least in did not rain).

 

[benski]

It must have been really thin since today they went from 14 trails to 3 trails.

 

[skibum636]

It's always thin and bare at gp. It sounds like they didn't open all the trails they had listed on the web page yesterday. But at least people got to ski.

Glad I got my pass at song. They had 2-3 feet of untouched on almost every trail Wednesday. No deceptive marketing, and no stupid "resort" fee.

 

[Dick Gazinya]

Greek is losing more customers than they realize because of the marketing practices. They like to think dropping day pass prices makes up for it but, it doesn't. If they sell too many day passes and it gets crowded, they will just irritate and lose more season pass holders. Song always gets more snow. They may be a little less of a hill but, they make up for it without insulting their customers. Greeks target customers are foreigners from Jersey who can't ski. So they like to waste extra money on grooming. Not song, they save the pow and groom later. Saves them money along the way.

 

[doublediamond]

The problem is Wes is still the fricken GM or whatever they call him now. Get the rot out from the top!

"High speed quad!!" "High speed quad!!" "Next year!!" "Next year!!" "Oh it's fixed grip, but 600 fpm!!" "Oh no sorry, 450." "We're working on a variance to get 600!!. "We got it!! (only 465 sorry not sorry)"

"We're working with Ratnik to design us a new snowmaking system. Coming soon!!" "Look we got guns. See these new Ratnik mid-Es!!" (OK that was a good move).

"Oh look at all these new Low-E guns we got!!" No, they are 20 year old HKD standards your new 'hill manager' found in your boneyard.

"We're adding pipe to Odessey!!" "Oh, only the top."

Meanwhile they still haven't added hydrants anywhere. and dumped their SnoLogics. "Let's buy Togg!!!"

Greek could be 9000 times better. But Wes and company needed to get the axe four years ago. This bullshit has been going on through multiple marketing directors, so I know it's from over their head. It has to be Wes.

The biggest problem still is tickets. That has been the #1 complaint from the public for years. Hot damn, 45% off weekdays!! Meanwhile their competitors all offer 4 hour and 8 hour rates midweek and weekends in addition to midweek discounts. The $40 night ticket is an utter joke.

FIRE WES NOW! I don't care whatever nude pics he has of the owners or whatever the blackmail he's got. He's a fraud of management. A 2 year old could run the place better.

 

[Dick Gazinya]

We should start a petition to fire Wes. Fuck that guy. He's been taking the new owners for a ride.

 

[Dick Gazinya]

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/fire-wes-kruger-from-greek-peak

 

[doublediamond]

Oh and 952' drop is one of the biggest jokes around. Top of Chair 1/Visions to the base is 737. Top of Chair 2* to base is 750 per SAM lift surveys. Bottom of Chair 5 is 77' lower than the lodge per USGS DEM.

To get 952' you have to go from the tip top above Chair 4 down to Parker St in East Virgil, 1.35 miles from the closest trail (Arcadian Gate).

750 + 77 = 827

952 - 827 = 125

125 / 827 = 15.1% exaggeration.

*Chair 2 used to go down to the river but was truncated in the 90s with the removal of the poma and the addition of the carpets.

 

[Dick Gazinya]

Put your money where your mouth is and sign the petition.

 

[skibum636]

Calling the quad an express is also a joke. Does anyone know of another resort that has a fixed grip listed as express? If I go someplace for the first time and see an express lift on the map I expect a high speed detachable.

They say it is express because of the loading belt, but in reality the older chair 1 is usually a quicker trip up.

Does anyone know more about the two new trails have been added to the count with no other info? When are they going to learn how to use social media effectively? Why do they use pictures of other resorts in most of their advertising?

 

[Jully]

Calling the quad an express is also a joke. Does anyone know of another resort that has a fixed grip listed as express? If I go someplace for the first time and see an express lift on the map I expect a high speed detachable.

While it certainly is annoying when resorts do that, especially if it is a new lift and it was originally planned as a detachable, I do know of quite a few resorts that do name fixed grip lifts as express. Bretton Woods has Fabyan's Express which is a fixed grip triple, and Shawnee Peak in Maine has their summit triple listed as the Summit Express. Shawnee actually changed the name to express after installing a refurbished triple with a loading carpet,a very similar situation to what you're describing here. Shawnee's owners were very up front about it and the new lift actually does cut a few minutes off the ride time. Berkshire East had the Diamond Express a few years ago too which was a fixed grip (given a very very fast fixed grip, but still). Cannon has their summit quad as the Cannonball Express the last time I checked too (haven't actually been there in a few years).

It does happen! It can definitely be confusing when it does though.

 

[skibum636]

Reopening Sunday with 1 run and bunny slope. 5$ tickets from ski company. Should be quite the shit show by 10am.

 

[Tin]

Calling the quad an express is also a joke. Does anyone know of another resort that has a fixed grip listed as express? If I go someplace for the first time and see an express lift on the map I expect a high speed detachable.

Cannonball Express at Cannon


Berkshire East had the "Diamond Express" which was a deadly fixed-grip double. Probably one of my favorite lifts.

 

[Cornhead]

Reopening Sunday with 1 run and bunny slope. 5$ tickets from ski company. Should be quite the shit show by 10am.

Glad I'll be a skiing Santa at Whiteface Sunday. I got knocked off my skis at Hunter, probably would happen at Greek too. Who knows maybe It'll happen at WF, coal for the person who does!

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[skibum636]

I think Greek goes out of their way to be deceptive in their marketing. Why do they use so many pictures from other mountains?

Or did they install a HS8 last summer?

 

[Cornhead]

Why do they use so many pictures from other mountains?

Because pics of their mountain would turn customers away. Didn't get hit at WF, but it was pretty zooy, only rode the gondola once, once was enough. They finally opened the double to the top of Little Whiteface. I can only imagine what Greek was like Sunday.

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[kbird]

Does anyone know more about the two new trails have been added to the count with no other info?

I heard this also, does any know the inside scoop? I hope they don't mean Hercules and Labyrinth since those aren't technically new.

I do enjoy skiing Labyrinth in it's official form, it was a little tough to ski when it was just a stash. I can't count the times I was chased out of there by patrol when I was younger

Cool to see a thread on the 'ole place, would rather see more positive comments though. I've had so many fun times on Lab, Alsos Glade and of course Ronnie's Run err, I mean Aesop's Glade! Best memory of the place for me was this random spring day skiing years ago and Olympian had perfect seeded bumps, sooo siiick! Ahh, those were the days! :beer:

 

[Cornhead]

I do enjoy skiing Labyrinth in it's official form, it was a little tough to ski when it was just a stash. I can't count the times I was chased out of there by patrol when I was younger

It was more fun before it was official. Well, the bottom is better now, you can actually ski the trees. The road was fun too though. Do you remember the tee-pee?
If you look closely, you can see me.

It was deep in there that year.

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[kbird]

Do you remember the tee-pee?

OMG the teepee, that is too funny! The problem was with that stash, kids thought it was just a place to weed